Just finished the Hyperion quartet by Dan Simmons. The first book was absolutely amazing. The first three are really good, but hte first one is extra special god-tier Sci-Fi. The last book was soff though, but still a great series. Now on to my final re-read (actually re-listen) to Wheel of Time before the final book comes out early next year.

TheHammer24 wrote:I've read The Dragon Tattoo and the Hunger Games trilogies this year, eclipsing the number of novels I've read since high school by . . . six. Looking for some suggestions. I like crowd-pleasers, I think. The Millennium trilogy was definitely better than the Hunger Games (totally different worlds). But I would love a crime novel or better yet a complex plot like Larson wrote.

Have you read any Stephen King? He would certainly fit the definition of crowd-pleaser. Books like It, The Stand, and the Dark Tower series are pretty good.

Just finished Jam by Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw, who is best known as a weekly video-game reviewer. It’s about an apocalypse. Of Jam. I would compare the tone of this book to something that might have been written by the late Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It’s not a great book, but it’s certainly entertaining enough that I can recommend it.

I am now into Book II of Peter Matthiessen's "Shadow Country"....I really cannot recommend the book enough at this point. Just an incredible work of fiction, and the portrayal of the turn of the century/early 20th century southwest Florida coast is fascinating. It's a long read, but definitely worth it.

To add, it is based on a true story, as apparently there was an Edgar J Watson that was gunned down by a large group of self-styled vigilantes right around the Great Hurricane of 1910. Excellent read.

I decided to pick up some modern fiction this year for the first time in about 3 years.

Has anyone read anything by Haruki Murakami? I'm about 2/3 of the way through Kafka on the Shore. This story is nuts, there are some really cool concepts of consciousness, I'm not all the way through but I think that characters are either sharing the same physical body or mental conscience. Either way, people that like complicated stories and trying to figure things out should consider this.

Allrighty. Finished up Darkly Dreaming Dexter. It was OK, I liked the finish. I'll definitely get to the other books eventually.

Next up, I read Neil Young's memoir Waging Heavy Peace. Very good, but very stream-of-consciousness. I enjoyed it a great deal, and read it quickly. I am a big Neil Young fan, so it appealed to me anyway. Forgot his dad was a co-host of the Hot Stove on HNIC back in the day. Neil is a San Jose Sharks season ticket holder, too.

I'm currently reading September Hope by John MacManus. It covers the U.S. participation in Operation Market Garden during WWII. This is the infamous "Bridge too Far" operation that essentially destroyed the British 1st Airborne Division. The Brits have received the most academic discussion for this operation (as is warranted by their heroic stand), so it's good to see some love for the two U.S. Airborne divisions that also participated in Market Garden. Some of the Easy Company members pop up from time to time, which is pretty cool.

About to start A Memory of Light, which is the 14th and final book of the Wheel of Time series. I bought the first book in this series when it came out in 1990, and I was a high-school sophomore at the time. It’s been a long road, and author Robert Jordan actually died in 2007. The series was finished by Brandon Sanderson using Jordan’s extensive notes and recordings. I hope other authors manage to finish their master works in less time (*cough* Martin *cough*).

I think I started the Wheel of Time series in middle school or early high school and have kept reading the books, even as the plot got more and more needlessly tangled. I'm significantly less interested in the series now, but I will pick up Memory of Light once an e-version is available to finish it up. It's this experience with the Wheel of Time that made me resolve to not read Game of Thrones or any other long and involved fantasy series until the series is finished.

Yeah, that was a great book. I was in a phase of getting audio books from the local library to listen to while driving and kept putting off getting that because, even though I like history books, the description of the book as dealing with the formation of Lincoln's cabinet just didn't seem exciting. Finally, I'd listened to pretty much every book I had any interest in and got Team of Rivals, and it was one of the most engrossing things I've ever read/listened to of any genre.

i got some books from santa and tried to start some preston & child book...i got like 4 pages in before the awful writing was just too much to take. it was seriously like reading a middle school creative writing paper. the wife got the first beautiful creatures book and i thought that was written better

I finished Blood Meridian last weekend. I can't get into that prose, it might just be a little bit above me. My mind wanders off a bit and I floated through some parts. Although I will say, there are some really crazy, captivating passages in that book.